Ricoh has unveiled the latest version of its 360-degree camera, the Theta S. Thanks to two 12MP 1/2.3" sensors, the S is capable of 14MP 360-degree still images, an improvement over the previous model's 6MP images. Brighter F2.0 lenses, 1080/30p video and integration with Google's new Street View app are all on board.

The Theta S uses a refined folded optics design to complement its boost in sensor resolution and, at 8GB, offers twice the built-in storage of the model before it. Given the large dynamic range often encountered in spherical views, the Theta is capable of analyzing multiple frames and performing high dynamic range processing behind the scenes. Its built-in Wi-Fi has seen a speed boost, though that may not mean quicker file transfer as the S's images are larger. HDMI output is provided for live streaming, and the companion app now offers a live preview.

Not only will the Theta S connect to Ricoh's apps via Wi-Fi, Google's newly revamped Street View app will also recognize the camera. As part of an effort to populate Street View with more user-generated content, 360-degree images can be recorded and uploaded to Street View within the new app. Spherical images captured with cameras like the Theta S will be displayed alongside Google's Photo Sphere images, which can be captured using the Street View app itself.

We see this as a smart way for Google to democratize spherical imagery content, which will essentially help them map out the world beyond simple street views, including areas inaccessible by vehicles. And the Open Spherical Camera (OSC) API, led by Ricoh and Google, will ensure that any app that's OSC-compliant will be able to connect to a device like the Theta to capture and upload spherical images.

An aspect of the camera we find particularly exciting is its ability to computationally extract both still and video imagery after-the-fact. Tying in spherical imagery with gyro- and accelerometer measurements the Theta continually records essentially means that you should be able to carry the Theta around with you while recording video, mounted to anything really, and not care about keeping it pointed in any particular direction or stabilizing it. You can then stabilize the video, and pick any field or direction of view, after the fact. Essentially, the gyro data can be used to continually reorient the view, and since it's a spherical view, you have a large degree of freedom in reorienting (unlike traditional 'digital' image stabilization, which crops video significantly). Furthermore, you can 'extract' whatever field-of-view you'd like after the fact, since you always have 360º data. Imagine recording a video of a scene like this, extracting videos or photos looking in whichever direction you choose, after the fact. It might even mean enjoying the moment during the moment, a luxury photographers often don't have!

The Ricoh Theta S will be available in late October for $349. Google's new Street View app is available today for iOS and Android.

TOKYO and BERLIN, September 3, 2015 — Ricoh announced today the release of the RICOH THETA S, the newest model in the RICOH THETA series of spherical cameras that capture 360-degree scenes surrounding the user. Unveiled today in Berlin at IFA, the world's largest consumer electronics show, the camera features extra-high resolution, fully spherical photos and videos in one simple shot, a live preview function and even greater compatibility with social media platforms.

The RICOH THETA S, which retains the lightweight portability of the current model—the RICOH THETA m15—captures high-resolution spherical images of up to nearly 14 megapixels. It can also record spherical video in full HD (1920 x 1080*1 pixels at 30fps) with a maximum recording time of 25 minutes. The better quality images are enabled by an enlarged image sensor and fast F2.0 lenses to allow more light through Ricoh's proprietary ultra-small twin-lens folded-optical system.

Also, superior image processing technology and bulb mode for long exposures produce spherical still images with less visual static, even in low-light settings.

Spherical images can be uploaded to theta360.com, shared via Facebook™, Twitter™ and Tumblr, and posted to Google Maps™, Google+™ and YouTube™360°Channel. The application program interface (API) for RICOH THETA S is based on Google-supported Open Spherical Camera API for compatibility with Google's services.

Coinciding with the launch of the RICOH THETA S, Google Maps today introduced the new Google Street View app that allows you to capture and publish your photo spheres instantly to Google Maps for people all over the world to explore. The app also offers the ability to shoot photo spheres and to connect to spherical cameras. This new capability to connect to spherical cameras makes it easier than ever to create Google Street View experiences.

The new RICOH THETA S app for smartphones and tablets can be used to configure settings and instantly view spherical photos and video via wirelessly connected devices. An improved Wi-Fi® module transfers data four times faster than the current RICOH THETA model.

The RICOH THETA S also boasts a fully updated design and user interface. Usability has been improved with an elegant but practical sure-grip black rubber coating and handy face-mounted LED mode indicator. Internal memory has been increased to 8GB.

The original RICOH THETA was launched in 2013 as the world's first mass-produced camera to capture fully spherical images. Since then, the series has inspired a unique genre of visual creativity for capturing everyday scenes from an all-new perspective.

The RICOH THETA S will go on sale at a base price of USD 349 (or equivalent) from late October in Europe (Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Poland, Switzerland, Turkey, and the UK), North America (Canada, Mexico, and the United States), and Asia-Pacific (Australia, China, Hong Kong, India, Japan, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan and Thailand). Ricoh Imaging will market the RICOH THETA S, which was developed and manufactured by Ricoh.

Quotes from Ricoh, Ricoh Imaging and Google Maps

Wataru Ohtani, Ricoh's Corporate Associate Vice President and General Manager of the New Business and Platform Development Center, said: “Ricoh pioneered the spherical camera market and thereby revolutionized how people view the world. This new model offers even higher image quality than before to satisfy both early adopters and people who enjoy communicating creatively through social media.”

Noboru Akahane, Ricoh Imaging's President and CEO, said: “We are delighted to offer users increased value and richer 360-degree experiences with our new RICOH THETA S. The model's enhanced image quality and other exciting new features are sure to expand the scope of RICOH THETA fans in all-new fields.”

Charles Armstrong, Google Maps Product Manager, said: “The Street View app allows people all over the world to explore user contributions, Google's own imagery, and their own published photo spheres through a seamless world map of landscapes, landmarks, business interiors and more. The RICOH THETA S is a great tool to create this imagery, and we hope it inspires people to contribute to the map.”

Why Ricoh only use 2 cameras ? to push the price low ? IMHO using 2 cameras only will make difficult to create full 360 degree. which mean 1 cameras must cover more than 180 degree. if they use 3 cameras I believe the result will be better

I actually think the new Theta S stills quality looks pretty decent for the price. It's not a professional grade camera, just a bit of fun. The long exposure looks a bit noisy and it's not perfect, but it does capture the entire 360 x 180 sphere in one shot. If you want better quality shoot with a dslr but a lot more hassle. I'll be interested to se video quality as i couldn't find any working samples "Coming Soon!". However, i doubt it'll be that amazing ... but lets hope i'm wrong ! :D

I've watched video sample of YouTube, it's terrible. I'm hoping it's just YouTube quality that has knocked it down. Search for Theta S Drone and you should find it. On a smart phone you should be able to pan 360

The output JPG image can be edited in an app such as DxO OpticsPro 10 to improve the dynamic range, reduce noise etc. I just downloaded a sample from the Theta S and tinkered with it then put the image into PTGUI for Mac and created a QTVR. Result was pretty good, but the camera needs to be perfectly upright for use the way I did. But of course you can put the edited image into the Ricoh app.

Agree that the resolution is not that good when you try and zoom in to see a portion of the image less distorted by the spherical nature of the image. In a few years they will have this with 40MP per sensor and 4K video and a few Tb onboard :)

I have the current Theta M15 and have been having a blast with it. True, the resolution is just barely adequate for web -- and it certainly isn't an image where you want to zoom in much -- but it is fun and folks like the pictures.

Doubling the resolution and adding more processing and image management options is a good move forward.

We DO need (listen up Pentax/Ricoh) some kind of little vertical grip so we can minimize thumb-in-the-picture for those time when we can't tripod mount it.

Good Lord, NO. Selfie stick doesn't apply to one of these anyway since the FOV and DOF make every photo you take a selfie -- unless you mount the Theta on a tripod, go off somewhere to hide, and then trigger the camera remotely.

When you hold the Theta in your hand and fire it with the button part of your hand always shows. Since the center of the shutter button is only about 1 1/2 inches away from the center of the lens, that's not an inconsequential chunk of the frame. (The Theta even shows a little bit of itself, which is probably one of the reasons black is an available color with the S.)

Right now I use a 4 inch handle with a 1/4-20 thread, or a Manfrotto Pixi tabletop tripod to get my hand a little farther away from the lens, but I still must either extend my finger up to the shutter button or trigger the camera with a tablet or smart phone -- with that bright green Theta screen showing.

It sounds like the new "S" will have better apps than the current M15. But right now you CAN fire the Theta M15 remotely using WiFi and the iOS or Android apps on a smartphone or tablet. (In my shots look for the green glow.)

Remember that this is a 360 x 360 view and the picture will always show whatever you are using as a support (your hand, tripod, etc.). If you mount a Theta on a conventional tripod, the tripod legs will be quite noticeable -- so while YOU may be hiding somewhere, the camera support can't.

The Manfrotto Pixi tripod works well for me because I can use it as a comfortable hand grip. When I use it as a tripod, the legs don't have that "industrial" look. If I was shooting interiors, I would use a microphone stand (one with the round iron base) or a smaller light stand with shorter legs. Outdoors, if the ground is soft you could use a 3/4" or 1" wood dowel -- sharpened at one end and with a 1/4-20 stud threaded into the top.

If you fire the Theta with your smart phone or tablet you don't need a timer. The Theta will do time lapse and video, though I haven't tried those features.

Tripod? Not sure, but that may be a small footprint tripod (tabletop) with an extension. The height of the camera lens is about at the waists of the two gents -- no too much of a reach to support a lightweight camera.

That particular shot might let you PhotoShop out the tripod altogether since the floor looks like it might work with the healing brush. I go into some of my original files, apply noise reduction, and do a little work on layers, etc. I just don't mess with the cropping.

Take a look at my gallery to see that tripod and hand held shooting looks like.

I had the original Theta 360 (won it from Ricoh), but I simply could not handle the poor quality of the images. It drove me mad. I even did HDRs to try to get rid of the noise in the photos, and learned to edit as much as possible while still retaining the coding necessary to keep it spherical.

After about a month I gave it away.

I wonder how much better the newer one will be. It needs to have the quality that is at least as good as what our phones can do these days. The original Theta had the image quality of the old flip phones. It was pretty bad, even in good light.

Has anyone seen any samples from the camera yet? I'm very interested in it (if it's good).

Probably a processing power limitation that's a compact body. That's enough for youtube and a bit more but ofc not for high quality video. Not sure if the market is ready for a costly mass produced 360. You need time to media to catch up. I'm not even sure if 360° video streaming is supported by any well known service right now (Youtube, twitch, ...) and 360° video is not that old on youtube.

"Tying in spherical imagery with gyro- and accelerometer measurements the Theta continually records essentially means that you should be able to carry the Theta around with you while recording video, mounted to anything really, and not care about keeping it pointed in any particular direction or stabilizing it."

Does it mean there is a gyro- and accelerometer built-in the camera or a phone has to be attached to the camera to feed the info for post processing?

I like the form factor better than the giroptic or Bubl. So far Bublcam's images are sharper than any other "one-click" 360 cameras - I'm wondering how this new Theta S will compare. The Theta's stitching has been superior though with only two lenses to align.

The partnering with Google is a big deal. This is a step up, and I suspect we will be seeing a higher end development geared for commercial work in far less than a year. This is a great situation for Ricoh, and by extension, Pentax.

By the way, the Theta is important enough to be mentioned in the FY March 2016 1st Quarter Financial Announcement presentation:"The high value added hi-end cameras and RICOH THETA have grown well, andcontributed to profits."

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